RLPB 423. North Korea: Talks the Only Option

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 423 | Wed 13 Sep 2017

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NORTH KOREA: TALKS THE ONLY OPTION
plus China Update: Gao Zhisheng
plus Yemen Update: Father Tom Uzhunnalil

by Elizabeth Kendal

As noted in RLPB 403 (19 April), 'North Korea will not willingly disarm, but will retain its weapons program for the purpose of deterrence.' After all, the regime saw what happened in 2003 to Iraq's Saddam Hussein (who did not have a nuclear deterrent), and in 2011 to Libya's Muammar Gaddafi (who had relinquished all his nuclear weapons). In both cases, the West facilitated regime change, ensuring these former allies fell into the hands of their enemies: Saddam was executed by Shi'ite forces, whilst Gaddafi was brutalised to death by al-Qaeda-linked jihadists. Both countries were essentially destroyed. Russian President Vladimir Putin said as much last week. While he condemned North Korea's nuclear provocations, President Putin rejected the idea that UN sanctions were a solution. 'Sanctions of any kind,' he said, 'are useless and ineffective in this case ... [The North Koreans] will eat grass, but they will not abandon this [nuclear] program unless they feel safe.'

Sanctions will not work, but neither can there be a military solution for as the US Defense Department and everyone in the region knows, the cost to South Korea -- in lives and infrastructure -- would be absolutely catastrophic. Though war is not an option, on Sunday 10 September US Senator John McCain called for Washington to ratchet up the pressure by stepping up its presence in the region to 'make sure that Kim Jong-un knows that if he acts in an aggressive fashion, the price will be extinction.' Such language would surely cause considerable distress to millions of Christians around the world who don't want to see North Korea's long-suffering remnant Church obliterated in US 'fire and fury'.   

North Korea in the dark
(Satellite image) click on map to enlarge

If sanctions are not the solution and war is out of the question, what are we left with? It leaves us with the possibility of returning to six-party talks (North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and the USA). Ultimately, what the Kim regime wants is a bi-lateral treaty with the USA: one that recognises North Korea as a nuclear power, taking regime change off the table. North Korea also wants to be recognised as a sovereign independent state, taking reunification off the table (at least for the foreseeable future). Some analysts insist the crisis (most of which is theatre and posturing) is approaching its 'end game' and that resolution and dialogue, not war, will be the outcome. That said, the situation remains incredibly volatile -- an angry or accidental slip could jeopardise everything.

Should a resolution be reached, South Korea, China and Russia (i.e. North Korea's neighbours) are ready to invest in such a way as to facilitate North Korea's economic development. This is critical, for North Korea cannot truly open up to the world until it has radically improved the living standards of its people. Hence the endless balancing act: when risk is perceived to be high, repression and belligerence are extreme; however, when risk is perceived to be low, engagement and reform inch tentatively forward. There really is no alternative to returning to the days of inching forward. South Korea's new President Moon Jae-in, whose parents fled the north during the Korean War, is eager to re-establish dialogue and co-operation, as are Russia and China. However, the Kim regime will not negotiate until the US concedes that North Korea is indeed a nuclear power (hence the endless missile tests). Even if talks resume, treaties are signed and normalisation occurs, it will be many years before North Korea can truly open up to the outside world without risking collapse. What is more important though is that conditions inside North Korea improve, including the issue of religious freedom for the long-suffering North Korean Church.


PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR GOD TO:

* preserve, protect, bless and strengthen the long-suffering North Korean Church – both the Church in the labour camps and the Church deep 'underground'.

* intervene in the Korean crisis creatively, according to his wisdom, to fulfil his good purposes, that ultimately North Korea's faithful remnant Church might be liberated to worship freely, to be salt and light and yeast in society, and to bring healing to the North.

'Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.' From Psalm 24

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Further reading on North Korea:
by Elizabeth Kendal, Religious Liberty Monitoring
North Korea: Belligerence vs 'Smart Policy' (19 Feb 2014)
North Korea: Positive Changes (24 Aug 2007)
 -----------------------------------------

CHINA UPDATE: It has been confirmed that Christian human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who had been reported 'missing' [RLPB 421 (30 Aug)], is in police custody in Beijing. Analysts expect he will remain in custody until after the week-long Chinese Communist Party's 19th Congress, which commences on 18 October.

YEMEN UPDATE: Father Tom Uzhunnalil, kidnapped by jihadists in Yemen in March 2016 [see RLPB 386 (27 July 2016)], was released from captivity on 12 September, after the Indian and Omani governments secured his release. He is currently in Rome, where he will spend a few days before returning to his home in Kerala, India. Praise God for this mercy.


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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TALKS WITH NORTH KOREA ARE THE ONLY OPTION

North Korea will not abandon its nuclear weapons program. Sanctions will not work and a military solution is untenable as the impact on South Korea would be catastrophic. The only option is dialogue. However, the Kim regime will not negotiate until the US concedes that North Korea is a nuclear power. The regime maintains that nuclear deterrence is essential if North Korea is to be spared US-backed regime change. Many analysts believe the crisis is approaching its 'end game' and that dialogue, not war, will be the outcome. Whilst it would be many years before North Korea could open up to the outside world without risking collapse, the situation inside North Korea could improve considerably over time. Please pray for North Korea and its long-suffering Church in the labour camps and 'underground'.

------------------------------------------------------

Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF), and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

She has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and, After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com 

RLPB 391. Jan Updates. Incl. Burma, Nigeria, Sudan, Vietnam, Yemen

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 391 | Wed 25 Jan 2017

Please forward this prayer bulletin widely, and encourage others to sign up to the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog. "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16 NIV)

JANUARY 2017 UPDATES AND ROUNDUP
by Elizabeth Kendal

* BURMA (Myanmar): PASTORS DETAINED AS WAR ESCALATES

The Burmese army has escalated its military offensive against the Christian ethnic Kachin, whose lands they seek to exploit in northern Burma. The humanitarian situation is dire, with thousands of Kachin forced to flee the northern IDP camps to seek refuge in China. According to reports, the government has been preventing humanitarian aid from reaching a number of conflict areas. Burma expert Bertil Lintner comments (19 January): 'After a 17-year respite [a ceasefire held from 1994 to 2011] and now under an elected government, Kachin State has arguably never witnessed such debilitating and destructive armed combat.'

Kachin pastors, Dom Dawng Nawng (65)
and La Jaw Gam Hseng (35)

On 24 December Burmese military officers abducted Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) pastors Dom Dawng Nawng (65) and La Jaw Gam Hseng (35). The pastors had previously helped journalists document the destruction of civilian structures, including St Francis Xavier Catholic Church, in Mong Ko in neighbouring Shan State. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the pastors received a call claiming to be from Byuha Gon military base, in which they were invited to come and secure the release of a married couple. The pastors were last seen on the evening of 24 December, travelling by motor-bike to the military base. On 16 January HRW expressed grave concerns after the government denied that the military had detained the two men. On 19 January the Burmese army confirmed that it had detained the pastors on national security grounds and that they are alive. The KBC has requested that the two men be handed over to Mong Ko police as soon as possible.

It is imperative that the soldiers who abducted and illegally detained the KBC pastors be held to account. As noted by HRW Deputy Asia Director, Phil Robertson: 'Perpetrators of grievous abuses in Kachin and Shan States need to be brought to justice. Atrocities won't stop so long as the military can commit them against civilians with impunity.' Indeed, two years on from the barbaric rape, torture and slaughter of two Kachin missionaries by Burmese troops on the night of  19-20 January 2015 [see RLPB 347 (9 March 2016)], nobody has been held to account. Pray for an end to impunity and for our long-suffering, long-persecuted brothers and sisters in Burma.

* NIGERIA: CHURCHES DEMOLISHED IN DUTSE, JIGAWA

Demolition of Lord Chosen Church,
Dutse, Jigawa, Northern Nigeria.
source: World Watch Monitor

On 11 January government forces supervised the demolition of two long-established churches in the state capital, Dutse. The government justified the demolitions by claiming that the churches had been illegally built in residential zones. Church leaders reject this, noting that several church-owned residential properties were also demolished while nearby mosques were not. Though the government claims to have forewarned the churches, church leaders deny this also, saying the demolitions commenced without warning leaving no time to salvage movable property. Jigawa State is 99 percent Muslim and Sharia (Islamic) law has been in force since 2001. Christians suffer systematic discrimination and are exceedingly vulnerable to persecution. With five more churches scheduled to be demolished, Christians are understandably anxious about the future. Please pray that Governor Abubakar will relent and that the remaining churches will be spared.

* SUDAN: CHRISTIANS EXPELLED, IMPRISONED, ABANDONED

EXPELLED: Morning Star News reports that Pastor Koat Akot of the Sudan Pentecostal Church left Sudan on 9 December after being expelled by Sudan's powerful National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS). Pastor Akot had established three churches in the Khartoum-Omdurman area.

IMPRISONED: On 2 January a Khartoum court acquitted the Rev Kwa Shamaal of all charges, enabling the head of Missions of the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) to walk free. However, his three co-accused were not so fortunate. Rev Hassan Abdelrahim Tawor (SCOC), Darfuri convert Abdulmonem Abdumawla and Czech aid worker, Petr Jasek, have been charged with serious crimes against the state. The judge was expected to deliver his verdict on their cases on 23 January, now  postponed until Sunday 29 January.  If found guilty, the men could receive long prison terms or even a death sentence. Pray for the Church in Sudan.

ABANDONED: Despite the repression and persecution in Khartoum and the ongoing genocidal jihads and humanitarian blockades in the Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile and Darfur, the out-going Obama administration announced on 13 January that it was 'easing sanctions' on Sudan. The US Treasury Department justified the move, claiming the Government of Sudan has shown 'sustained progress ... on several fronts ... .' Human Rights Watch labelled the statement 'inexplicable', while long-time Sudan expert Eric Reeves slammed it as 'a bald lie'. May the LORD intervene for his people! (See Isaiah 59:14-19)

* VIETNAM: NGUYEN VAN DAI'S DETENTION EXTENDED

At the end of December Communist Party officials extended the detention of Protestant Christian and internationally acclaimed human rights attorney and religious liberty advocate, Nguyen Van Dai (47). It is the third time the authorities have extended his detention. Dai has already spent four years in prison (2008-2011), followed by four years house arrest (to March 2015) for the crime of 'spreading propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam'. He was re-arrested in December 2015 as he attempted to meet with European Union representatives who were in Hanoi to investigate human rights issues. Dai will now remain detained until April. Please pray for Nguyen Van Dai and for the Church in Communist Party-ruled Vietnam.

* YEMEN: CAPTIVE MISSIONARIES IN CRISIS

On 24 December ISIS released a five-minute video in which captive Indian missionary, Father Tom Uzhunnalil (56), makes a fresh appeal for his life. Clearly distressed, despairing and in failing health, Father Tom had lived and worked in Yemen for some 14 years before he was kidnapped by ISIS on 4 March 2016 [see RLPB 348 (16 March 2016)]. Father Tom has appealed directly to the Pope and to 'bishops everywhere', imploring them to intervene to save his life. After nearly ten months in captivity, Father Tom appears disturbingly thin, breathless and frail. Click here for video.

Craig McAllister

On 10 January unidentified Islamic militants released a 12-second video in which captive Australian missionary, Craig McAllister (56), appeals directly to the Australian government as a gun is held to his head. McAllister -- who had lived in Yemen for several years and was working with a Christian charity as a football coach when he was kidnapped in September 2016 -- assures the Australian government that his captors will kill him if their demands are not met.

UPDATE: Craig McAllister was released in May 2017. Thank you Lord!

Please pray for the captives, the prisoners and the persecuted, as if you were suffering with them (Hebrews 13:3). 'Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.  Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.' (Matthew 10:29-31 ESV)

-------------------

Elizabeth Kendal is international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF), and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

She has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and, After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com

RLPB 368. July Update, Incl. Egypt, Bangladesh, France, India, Iran, Nepal, Nigeria, Syria, Yemen

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 368 | Wed 27 July 2016
By Elizabeth Kendal

Please forward this prayer bulletin widely, and encourage others to sign up to the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog. "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16 NIV)

NEW BOOK: Elizabeth Kendal's new book, After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA) was released in June 2016 is now widely available. For more information, including purchasing options see www.ElizabethKendal.com.

PLEASE PRAY that God will use this book to awaken and embolden and facilitate engagement -- for the Christians of the Middle East need all the help they can get. What's more, as the book makes clear, this battle will not be confined to the Middle East, for Mesopotamia (Syria-Iraq), long known as the cradle of civilisation, is but ground zero in a battle for civilisation. PLEASE PRAY that God will bless and use this book for the benefit of his people and the glory of his name.


JULY 2016 UPDATE -- this month we prayed concerning ...

* RUSSIA (RLPBs 364 and 365), where President Putin has defied the advice of business and church leaders and even his own advisors and signed into law a controversial 'anti-terror' package which includes anti-mission measures that eviscerate religious freedom. We now wait to see how the law will be applied and how it might be challenged.

* EGYPT (RLPB 366), where Egypt's indigenous Christian Copts face escalating violent persecution at the hands of local radicalised Muslims increasingly confident they will never be charged.

UPDATE: CHURCH BURNED; COPTS STABBED

Burned: Church of the
Archangel Michael, Luxor.

LUXOR: Morning Star News reports that at 2:30am on 16 July Copts in Al-Madamoud in Luxor Governorate were woken by the sound of flames ripping through the roof of the Church of the Archangel Michael. An iconographer, who was sleeping in the church while he worked restoring the church's religious paintings, was trapped inside and had to be rescued by local residents. Firefighters arrived two and a half hours later, after the building had been thoroughly gutted. Local Copts suspect arson.

MINYA: Shortly after 9 pm on Friday 15 July Muslims in Abu Yacoub village, Minya, attacked the homes of Copts, enraged by a rumour that a church might be constructed in the area. Five homes were torched and several Copts received minor injuries.

Stabbed: Naguib Hanna (80)
wataninet

On Sunday evening 17 July a group of Muslims armed with knives and batons attacked the families of two local Coptic priests in Tahna al-Gabal. The attack came after a group of four local Muslims harassed and threatened Pastor Matta'os' son, Mikhail (7), as he played outside the house under the watchful eye of his grandfather. When the grandfather protested, the Muslims became violent, attracting more Muslims. The grandfather Naguib Hanna (80) was stabbed several times in the face, as were Malak Aziz Hanna (40, the brother of another local priest) and a female Christian neighbour Azza Gouma (35). Mr Fam Mari Khalaf (27) was stabbed repeatedly in the chest and died.

* TURKEY (RLPB 367), where President Erdogan is exploiting the failed coup as an opportunity to eliminate his opponents, tighten his grip on power, advance his personality cult and  further his dangerous Islamo-Turkic nationalism. The threat facing alleged 'enemies of the state' -- i.e. Gulenists (liberal Islamists), Kemalists (secularists), as well as all non-Turks and non-Muslims -- is now greatly heightened.

JULY ROUND-UP -- also this month ...

* BANGLADESH: CATHOLIC NURSE BURNED

Maya Karmokar (45) lives with and cares for her elderly mother in the village of Kajura, Jessore District (south-west Bangladesh). A devout Catholic, she works as a nurse in a local Catholic medical facility. On the night of 9 July Maya was asleep in her bed when Muslims broke into her home, poured gasoline over her and set her alight. Alerted by her screams, neighbouring relatives rushed to her aid. Unable to afford specialist medical care, Maya was in hospital for just one day before being released to the care of her local doctor, despite receiving burns to most of her body. According to the parish priest, Fr Ananda Gopal Biswas, Maya is respected and has no enemies. Christians, Hindus, atheists and foreigners are increasingly being targeted by fundamentalist Islamists. In some areas, Hindu and Christian businesses have reportedly received anonymous pamphlets ordering them to observe Sharia, respect Islam and obey Muslims.

* FRANCE: CATHOLIC PRIEST SLAUGHTERED 

On Tuesday 26 July two knife-wielding men pledging allegiance to Islamic State (IS) stormed a Roman Catholic church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, northern France, during a celebration of the Mass. A nun who fled the scene told French TV that she saw the attackers force the priest, Rev Jacques Hamal (85) to his knees before slitting his throat. Another believer, whose throat was also slit, remains in a critical condition. French police shot the two Islamic terrorists as they left the church. One of the killers, Adel Kermiche (19), was known to French intelligence services as he had previously been arrested trying to join the jihad in Syria. IS has taken credit for the attack, via its Amaq news agency. This is the first Islamic terror attack on a church in Europe and cannot be expected to be the last. Pray for revival in Europe.

* INDIA: SIKH CONVERT PASTOR ATTACKED

Pastor Singh's mother (90)

The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) reports that on Sunday 3 July a group of 12 to 15 Sikh men violently attacked Sikh convert pastor Satpal Singh (48) along with his elderly mother, son and nephew. The family was at the church early with a group of around 15 church women making preparations for the luncheon that was to follow the worship. While the church women were able to flee, the pastor and his family were trapped, abused and beaten. Pastor Singh's 90-year-old mother was struck on the forehead with a brick and required hospitalisation. Pastor Singh told EFI that their church in Mallian village, Gurdaspur District, Punjab Province, has a congregation of some 60 members, all from different faiths. 'While we have a good testimony in our neighbourhood, these eight Sikh families have come together and have been threatening us for more than a year now for spreading the Word and conducting Church and prayer services in the village.' Please pray for Pastor Singh, his family, his congregation and his ministry. Pray also for his attackers that they will repent and believe.

* IRAN: MERCILESS OPPOSITION

NADARKHANI: Having already endured several years in prison -- between October 2009 and December 2013, including a death sentence for apostasy, subsequently overturned -- Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani is again being threatened by the Iranian regime. On 13 May the pastor and his wife, Tina, were temporarily detained after Iranian Security Service (VEVAK) officers raided their home in Rasht as part of a series of raids targeting approximately ten Christian households [see RLPB 358 (May Update)]. On Sunday 24 July Pastor Nadarkhani was summoned to the 13th Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Rasht. He was formally charged with 'acting against national security' and accused of Zionist activities and evangelism. He has been given until 31 July to raise 100 million Toman (US$33,000) bail or face arrest.

MARYAM: Though granted medical furlough in June 2016, gravely ill Christian prisoner Maryam Naghash Zargaran was escorted back to Evin Prison on 27 June after the court ruled she must continue serving her four-year prison sentence on charges of 'acting against national security' [see RLPB 363 (June Update)]. Still gravely ill and suffering both physical pain and psychological distress, Maryam commenced a new hunger strike on 5 July, demanding 'immediate and unconditional release'. An Iranian court has rejected her demand at the request of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS). Prison medical staff who examined Maryam on 20 July report that her blood pressure is very low and that she has pains and numbness in her feet; possibly early signs of multiple sclerosis. Please pray for Maryam and for the Church in Iran.

* NEPAL: EVANGELISTS CHARGED

source: World Watch Monitor

Eight Christian teachers/counsellors charged in June with proselytising will soon face court. The seven men and one woman (pictured) were arrested on 9 June for distributing religious booklets in a Christian school [see RLPB 363 (June Update)]. In April the Himalayan Times reported that Christian-run orphanages with access to foreign funds are 'preaching Christianity to young minds'. Like schools, orphanages are in the firing line, and in the past few weeks a number of Christian social workers who run orphanages in Nepal have been arrested for proselytising and charged with human trafficking. Chinimaya Blown runs a children's orphanage in the capital, Kathmandu, and prays with the children in her care. She was arrested on 24 June and is currently being held in a Kathmandu jail facing charges related to human trafficking. On 19 July police in Chitwan (about 160km south-west of Kathmandu) arrested Pratik Sunar and his wife whom they accuse of running an unregistered children's home where they engage in 'unnecessary promotion of Christianity'. Whilst Mrs Sunar was freed after objections from local residents, Mr Sunar remains in police custody. Pray for the Church in Nepal.

UPDATE: In December 2016 the court dropped all charges and threw out the case. Praise God!

* NIGERIA: EVANGELIST ASSASSINATED 

Evangelist and martyr:
Eunice Olawale.
Morning Star News

On Saturday morning 9 July Eunice Mojisola Olawale (41), a deaconess in the Redeemed Christian Church of God which her husband pastors in a suburb of Abuja, went out preaching in the streets of Kubwa as was her routine. That Saturday, however, was to be anything but routine for that morning, as Eunice preached 'the blood of Jesus', a band of Islamists stabbed the mother of seven to death. Eunice had been street preaching for some six years, following in the footsteps of her evangelist mother. Though grieving deeply, her husband, Pastor Olawale Elisha said his one desire is that 'the killers repent and join her in heaven'.

Meanwhile, many southerners, especially Christians, are concerned that, of the 122 government appointments President Buhari has made since being elected, 77 posts have gone to northern Muslims. What is more, they are highly strategic posts, including Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Chief Justice, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Air Staff, Defence Minister, Inspector General of Police, Chief of Defence Intelligence, Controller of Immigration and more. (Source: Stratfor Global Intelligence). Continue to pray for Nigeria.

* SYRIA: A FIREY MESSAGE TO THE CHURCH IN QAMISHLI 

On the night of Monday 18 July a group of gunmen attacked an Assyrian Orthodox Church in Watwatiyah District, 13 km north-east of Qamishli city which is in north-eastern Syria close to the border with Turkey. The militants broke into the church and, after looting it, detonated explosives. Though security forces were able to extinguish the fire, the church was destroyed. Although the perpetrators have not yet been identified, Assyrian activists accused Islamic State militants of being behind the attack. Pray for the Church in Syria.

NOTE: The strategic situation may be about to shift in a way that bodes well for Syria. Recognising that it has run out of options, the US has agreed to co-operate with Russia in the fight not only against Islamic State, but against al-Nusra (al-Qaeda) which has long been protected by its close ties with US-backed 'rebels'. Furthermore, Turkey -- which has done more to facilitate the jihad in Syria than any other state -- has buckled under the stress of Russian sanctions, apologised for shooting down a Russian jet, and is seeking rapprochement with Moscow. This could lead to Syria's stabilisation and save Syria from a US-Turkey-Arab backed Islamist takeover. May GOD bring peace and security to Syria.

* YEMEN: KIDNAPPED PRIEST MOST PROBABLY ALIVE

On 19 July a photo appeared on the Facebook account of Father Tom Uzhunnalil that appears to be a photo of the kidnapped Indian Salesian priest. Father Tom (56) had been praying in the chapel of a Missionaries of Charity care home in Aden when it was stormed by Islamic State jihadists on 4 March. Eight residents and four nuns were killed, while Father Tom was kidnapped [see RLPB 348 (16 March 2016) includes earlier photo of Father Tom]. Bishop Paul Hinder, the Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia, believes the photo is authentic and that it is Father Tom. There is no indication of who posted the photo or why. Please pray for Father Tom and for the Church in Yemen.
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Elizabeth Kendal is the author of Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and, ‘After Saturday Comes Sunday’: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). For more information see: www.ElizabethKendal.com

RLPB 350. March Update, incl: China, Burma, Yemen, Algeria, Bangladesh, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 350 | Wed 30 Mar 2016

Please forward this prayer bulletin widely, and encourage others to sign up to the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) blog. "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16 NIV)

Elizabeth Kendal

'I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' (Matthew 16:18b ESV) 

MARCH 2016 ROUND-UP -- this month we prayed concerning ...

CHINA (RLPB 346), where President Xi Jinping is consolidating power and criticism of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) policy is increasingly being punished with imprisonment.

UPDATE: ZHANG KAI RELEASED

Christian lawyer and defender of the cross, Zhang Kai, was releasedfrom 'black jail' detention on 23 March. Detained since August 2015 [see RLPB 325 (2 Sep 2015)], Zhang Kai has now returned to his home in Inner Mongolia.While the conditions of his release are unknown, it is highly likely that Zhang was released upon agreeing to stay out of 'politics' and on the understanding that any criticism of CCP policy would result in especially harsh punishment. Pray that Zhang Kai will know God's love and blessing, and have peace. Pray for China's imprisoned believers.

BURMA (Myanmar) (RLPB 347) where the Burmese military continues to persecute Burma's ethnic nations with military violence fuelled by greed and exacerbated by racial-religious hatred and with drugs, with which the military is flooding the ethnic regions, with devastating effect.

UPDATE: UPHILL STRUGGLE FOR NEW GOVERNMENT

On 15 March Burma's new government, led by the National League for Democracy (NLD), elected Aung San Suu Kyi's long-time trusted friend and confidant, Htin Kyaw (69) -- an Oxford university graduate with a degree in economics -- as Burma's new president. Controversial military strongman, retired Lieutenant General Myint Swe (64), was elected as First Vice President; while NLD MP Henry Van Hti Yu (58), an ethnic Chin Christian, was elected as Second Vice President. The new government will take office on 1 April. Please pray for Burma as the military will resist any attempts to roll back its power and economic interests. Immediate policy flashpoints include the drugs issue and the highly controversial Myitsone Dam project being resisted by the Christian Kachin [see RLPB 132 (2 Nov 2011)]. Pray for Burma's long-persecuted ethnic nations. Pray for the Church in Burma.

IVORY COAST (RLPB 348), where a 13 March terror attack in Grand-Bassam, perpetrated by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM), showed that the predominantly Christian south is vulnerable to jihadist infiltration and attack.

YEMEN (RLPB 348), where Sunni and Saudi Arabian forces are battling ascendant Shi'ites and where Islamic State (IS) is competing with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Without peace and security, the remnant, servant church is likely to be eliminated.

UPDATE: FATE OF FATHER TOM

The whereabouts and fate of Father Tom Uzhunnalil remains unknown. A report that he had been crucified on Good Friday was nothing but an unsubstantiated rumour based on a misinterpreted sermon. IS has not issued any such threat, statement or claim. Unfortunately the sensational rumour spread like wildfire on social media and has been widely republished. Bishop Paul Hinder of Southern Arabia (a region in Saudi Arabia), told Catholic News Agencyon Monday 28 March that he has 'strong indications that Fr Tom is still alive in the hands of the kidnappers.'  So please continue to pray that God will protect, comfort, strengthen and ultimately deliver Fr Tom.

May the face [countenance, disposition] of all Christian captives and prisoners reflect their Lord Jesus Christ; and may the Lord of all grace open the eyes of their captors and persecutors so they will recognise and embrace the Saviour.  'And we all, with unveiled face, beholding [mirroring, reflecting] the glory of the Lord ...' (2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV) 

EASTER DEVOTION (RLPB 349): 'After Saturday Comes Sunday.' Please continue to pray for the Church to be convicted, awakened and energised so that she will witness to the world through her faith-fuelled willingness to risk much to rescue the lost and care for the persecuted.

MARCH ROUND-UP -- also this month ...

* ALGERIA: CHURCH THREATENED WITH CLOSURE
A Protestant fellowship in the Kabylie region is being threatened with closure. On 18 March al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) launched a rocket attack ona gas plant and reiterated its intention to punish the Algerian government for supporting France in its 'war against Muslims in northern Mali'. With Algerian-led AQIM escalating its attacks across the Maghreb, Algerian authorities may feel the need to demonstrate their Islamic credentials. Pray for the Church in Algeria.

* BANGLADESH: CONVERT ASSASSINATED

On Tuesday 22 March three Islamic militants on a motorcycle intercepted Hossain Ali (68), a Christian convert from Islam since 1999, as he undertook his routine morning walk in Kurigram, in northern Bangladesh. They attacked him with knives, stabbing him, hacking at his neck and slitting his throat. They hurled improvised explosive devices at on-lookers before fleeing on their motorcycle. Ali is the second convert assassinated this year; Pastor Khaza Somiruddin (75) was killed in western Jhinaidah in January. On that occasion Islamic State claimed responsibility, boasting: 'Soldiers of the caliphate were able to eliminate the apostate, named "Samir al-Din", by stabbing him with a knife.' In claiming responsibility for killing Hossain Ali, Islamic State declared, 'A security detachment from the soldiers of the Caliphate was able, by the grace of Allah the Almighty, to kill the apostate [Ali], who changed his religion and became a preacher [witness] for the polytheist Christianity.' Once again, the government of Bangladesh has denied that Islamic State was responsible. Pray for the Church in Bangladesh.

Ebrahim Firouzi

* IRAN: PRISONER IN NEED OF PRAYER

Ebrahim Firouzi was arrested for the third time in August 2013 and relocated from Evin Prison to the notorious maximum security Rajai Shahr prison in October 2014. Though due for release in January 2015, he was held, re-tried and sentenced in March 2015 to a further five years in prison for acting against national security. Ebrahim has appealed for prayer because his health is poor and deteriorating and he wants to remain firm in faith in theface of fierce persecution. Please pray for Ebrahim Firouzi, for Iran's Christian prisoners, for Iran's Christians and Christian fellowships. May God bring liberty to the prisoners, indeed to all Persians held captive by Islam. [To write to Ebrahim Firouzi, see Release International.]

* NIGERIA: THREE PASTORS ABDUCTED

On Monday 21 March armed men kidnapped three United Church of Christ in Nigeria pastors as they returned from preparing their site on the southern outskirts of Kaduna for an Easter retreat. Rev Dr Emmanuel Dziggau, president of the church, the Rev Iliya Anto, deputy president of the church, and the Rev Yakubu Dzarma, a retired church leader, were ambushed by six masked men armed with automatic rifles. Initially, 100 million naira (US$500,000) was demanded as ransom; however, that sum has since been reduced to 10 million naira. There is confusion as to whether Rev Iliya Anto was released due to his poor health. When church authorities went to the site where the kidnappers said they hadleft him, he was nowhere to be found. It is suspected that the gunmen are Fulani Muslims. Please pray that God will preserve and deliver the Reverends Dziggau, Anto and Dzarma.

* PAKISTAN: 'HOW LONG O LORD?'

 

EASTER MASSACRE

On Resurrection Sunday 27 March, as Christians gathered in Lahore's Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, an Islamic militant entered their midst and blew himself up beside children's amusement rides. The 20kg bomb sent shrapnel slicing through the crowd. At least 70 people were killed at the scene (at least 45 Christians and 25 Muslims), with more than 300 injured, at least 138 critically. Local sources report much higher figures. The death toll will continue to rise. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP: Pakistani Taliban), claimed responsibility for the attack: 'We have carried out this attack to target the Christians who were celebrating Easter. Also this is a message to the Pakistani prime minister [Nawaz Sharif] that we have arrived in Punjab [Sharif's home province].' (This is the same group that sent suicide bombers against two churches in Lahore's Youhanabad Christian colony 12 months ago [see RLPB 301 -- 18 Mar 2015]). The attacks came a day after the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Afghan Taliban) -- with whom the TTP has close ties -- released a statement entitled: 'Only Islamic rituals can be celebrated in an Islamic country.' Pakistan's Church is gravely imperilled. Please pray.

CHRISTIANS VULNERABLE AS SUNNI FUNDAMENTALISTS RAMPAGE

Asia Bibi

Also on Sunday 27 March some 25,000 Sunni fundamentalists gathered in Rawalpindi to observe the completion of 40 days of mourning for Mumtaz Qadri, the Islamist executed on 29 February for murdering anti-blasphemy campaigner, Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer in January 2011. They then marched on the capital, Islamabad, and on reaching the police barricades, erupted into a violent rampage. They demanded that Qadri be declared a 'martyr' and that Aasiya Noreen (Asia Bibi) -- a Christian mother on death row for alleged blasphemy; the woman Salmaan Taseer was supporting -- be immediately executed. Some 3000 Islamists then staged a sit-in and paralysed Islamabad's high security 'red zone' for a second day.  More than 700 protesters have been arrested; tensions are soaring. Pray that God will shield Pakistan's vulnerable Christian communities from the wrath of angry Islamic fundamentalists.

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Elizabeth Kendal is the author of Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today  (Deror Books, Dec 2012) which presents a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat.

Her second book, ‘After Saturday Comes Sunday’: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East, is being published by Wipf and Stock (Eugene, OR, USA), and will be released shortly.

RLPB 348. Ivory Coast & Yemen: Terror Escalates

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 348 | Wed 16 Mar 2016

Please forward this prayer bulletin widely, and encourage others to sign up to the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog. "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16 NIV)

IVORY COAST & YEMEN: TERROR ESCALATES 
By Elizabeth Kendal

IVORY COAST: AL-QAEDA STRIKES CHRISTIAN WEST AFRICA

click on map to enlarge

At 1 pm on Sunday 13 March heavily-armed masked gunmen from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's (AQIM's) al-Murabitoon struck Grand-Bassam, a beach resort town in south-eastern Ivory Coast (IC), killing 14 civilians and two soldiers. Only 40km south-east of IC's commercial capital, Abidjan, world heritage listed Grand Bassam served as the French colonial capital between 1893 and 1896. AQIM's al-Murabitoon is the same group that targeted the Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, over 15-16 January, killing 29 civilians, including seven Christian aid workers. In November 2015 it attacked the Radisson Blue in Bamako, the capital of Mali, killing 22 civilians. AQIM is the same group that is holding Australian missionary Dr Ken Elliot (81), seized in northern Burkina Faso, and Swiss missionary Beatrice Stockly, seized in Timbuktu, northern Mali. [See RLPB 431 (27 Jan 2016). Note: Jocelyn Elliot has since been released.] AQIM's strike in Grand Bassam was a strike deep into 'Christian' West Africa.

In Grand Bassam the terrorists roamed the beach shooting beach-goers and opened fire on the guests at the L'Etoile du Sud hotel to shouts of 'Allahu Akbar' (Allah is Greater).  Nearby Sacred Heart Cathedral opened its doors to offer shelter -- first to dozens of people fleeing from the beach, then to some 50 hostages liberated by police from the L'Etoile du Sud. According to local media, Ivorian security forces were on high alert, having been advised 24 hours earlier that a terrorist attack was imminent. Southern Ivory Coast is predominantly Christian. If AQIM is looking for soft targets full of 'infidels' (local and foreign), the many churches, international schools, business centres and tourist resorts of southern Ivory Coast would prove hard to resist. Pray for security in Ivory Coast.

YEMEN: ISLAMIC STATE KILLS NUNS, KIDNAPS PRIEST

Yemen was two states before 1990: North Yemen (facing the Red Sea) and South Yemen (facing the Gulf of Aden). North Yemen was 60 percent Shia and existed as a Shia Imamate for 1000 years until 1962 when nominal Shia, Arab socialist Ali Abdullah Saleh seized power in a military coup. South Yemen, however, was 99 percent Sunni with a significant Marxist element. When the two states united in May 1990, cracks immediately appeared. Not only were the Shi'ites now a 30 percent minority, but with power based in Sanaa in the north, the southerners, feeling marginalised, started agitating for secession. When civil war erupted in 1994, President Saleh employed jihadists -- veterans of the Afghan War -- to fight his enemies. When a Shi'ite rebellion erupted in 2004, it quickly developed into a regional sectarian proxy war with Iran backing the Shi'ites and the Arabs (led by Saudi Arabia) backing the Sunnis. [For background see Religious Liberty Monitoring, label: Yemen] Though President Saleh was removed in the 'Arab Spring', no political solution has been found to Yemen's problems. The state remains blighted by sectarian war, with foreign powers backing opposing sides while al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Islamic State (IS) compete for territory and recruits. It is doubtful the remnant (mostly expatriate) Church will survive.

On 4 March IS jihadists stormed a retirement home run by Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity in the highly strategic southern port city of Aden. The terrorists went room to room handcuffing elderly residents who were then taken outside and shot. When the terrorists came across Father Tom Uzhunnalil (56), an Indian Salesian priest, praying in the chapel, they locked him in. Fr Tom had been living at the charity home since September when AQAP sacked and burned his Aden parish [see RLPB 340 (15 Dec 2015)]. Along with three staff and at least eight elderly residents, four nuns were killed in the attack. Another nun managed to survive by hiding in a fridge; she is now on her way home to India. All these missionaries had resisted calls to leave Yemen, opting to stay and continue serving those in their care. After the slaughter, the jihadists returned to the chapel, handcuffed Fr Tom and took him away. His whereabouts remain unknown.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL

* intervene to deliver the foreign missionaries recently taken into captivity: Dr Ken Elliot and Beatrice Stockly (both captives of AQIM in northern Mali) and Fr Tom Uzhunnalil (a captive of IS in Yemen); may the captives be safe and filled with the peace of God.

'Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings' (Psalm 17:8 ESV). 'And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus' (Philippians 4:7 ESV).

* grant divine wisdom and insight to local civic and church leaders in troubled and insecure regions, thinking particularly of war-ravaged Yemen and vulnerable Ivory Coast. May the local people be alert (Acts 23:12-24); may the Church be sensitive to the Spirit's leading (Acts 16:6-10) and may the schemes of the wicked come to nothing (Psalm 146).


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN WHOLE ARTICLE
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TERROR ESCALATES IN IVORY COAST & YEMEN 

On Sunday 13 March, jihadists from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's al-Murabitoon struck the south-east coast of Ivory Coast. They shot beach-goers and patrons at the L'Etoile du Sud hotel -- 16 died. Some 100 terrified civilians found sanctuary in the nearby Cathedral as Ivory Coast security forces battled the militants. Southern Ivory Coast is predominantly Christian. Pray for Ivory Coast and its security. In Yemen on 4 March, jihadists from Islamic State massacred 12 staff and residents as well as four foreign nuns at a Missionaries of Charity retirement home in Aden. They also kidnapped Father Tom Uzhunnalil (56), an Indian Salesian priest; his whereabouts remain unknown. Meanwhile, Yemen is wracked by warring internal Islamic factions. Please pray for Yemen and for its remnant, servant Church.

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Elizabeth Kendal is the author of http://www.turnbackthebattle.com/thebook.html (Deror Books, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat.

Elizabeth Kendal’s new book, After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East, presently being published by Wipf and Stock (Eugene, OR, USA), will be available shortly. 

RLPB 340. December Update, Includes Ireland, Pakistan, Uganda, UK, UK-Northern Ireland, Vietnam, Yemen

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 340 | Wed 16 Dec 2015

By Elizabeth Kendal

This is the final RLPB for 2015. Regular RLPBs will resume on 27 January 2016. However, brief alerts will be issued for urgent prayer needs as required.

It is a great honour for me to serve not only the Lord's precious persecuted church, but the Lord's vast global army of faithful intercessors through the weekly provision of these Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletins. So until 2016:

'Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.' (Psalm 46:8-11 ESV)

DECEMBER 2015 UPDATE -- During December we prayed concerning ...

ADVENT (RLPB 338), noting that Christmas is a time of elevated risk of terrorism. Please continue to pray that plots will be thwarted, that would-be terrorists seeking divine empowerment will instead find the Lord and that God will prepare us for whatever lies ahead, working all things together for good 'for those who are called according to his purpose' (Romans 8:28 ESV).

WHAT THE PERSECUTED MIGHT HOPE FOR THIS CHRISTMAS (RLPB 339), noting that, while celebrating the coming of Christ, millions of believers will be hoping not for mince tarts and new gadgets, but for peace, security, religious freedom and the return of captive and imprisoned loved ones. Give the persecuted a gift: recruit another intercessor who will join us in prayer for those things hoped-for.

DECEMBER 2015 ROUND-UP -- also this month ...

* IRELAND: NO MORE RELIGIOUS EXEMPTIONS
On Tuesday 1 December the Dail (Irish parliament) voted unanimously to pass the new Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill which replaces the Employment Equality Act, and which comes without religious exemptions.  Previously, specific exemptions gave 'religious, educational or medical institutions' the right to act 'in order to maintain the religious ethos of the institution'. Without these exemptions, religious, educational and medical institutions will be obliged, by law, to respect and advance 'diversity'. The move is profoundly discriminatory, for while political institutions will be permitted to act to preserve their ethos, religious institutions will not. Whilst LGBTI employees in religious institutions will be able to 'come out' without fear of retrenchment, religious institutions will not be able to preserve their own values without fear of a law suit. As well as being anti-religion, the law is also anti-diversity, for it will ultimately result in the loss of distinctively Christian schools and hospitals. According to Ireland's equality minister, this measure will not be the last, and is but one of many reforms to come. The move is indicative of rising hostility against Biblical Christianity in Ireland.

* PAKISTAN: CLEANSING ISLAMABAD OF POOR CHRISTIANS
Between 2007 and 2012 some 100,000 settlers arrived in Islamabad from Taliban-infested, war-ravaged Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), as well as from Balochistan and Punjab. This pushed Islamabad's population to two million, with the growth occurring predominantly in slums. In July Pakistan's Capital Development Authority (CDA) launched a demolition campaign. Citing the threat of terrorism, the CDA demolished a mostly Pashtun [Muslim] slum, triggering an outcry. In August, the Supreme Court issued a stay order, stopping the demolitions. Since then the CDA has changed its strategy.

On 4 December the CDA told Pakistan's Supreme Court, 'Most of these katchi abadis [slums] are under the occupation of the Christian community. It seems this pace of occupation of land by the Christian community may increase. Removal of katchi abadis is very urgent to provide a better environment to the citizens of Islamabad and to protect the beauty of Islam.'

Impoverished and persecuted, Christian families migrate to Islamabad in search of work and security.  Some 80,000 Christians live in Islamabad's Christian colonies/slums, comprising 4 percent of Islamabad's population. Many of these colonies have existed for 15 to 50 years. As the CDA presents its case for demolition to the Supreme Court, residents of about 30 Christian colonies have been issued with eviction notices. Should the demolitions proceed, these many tens of thousands of poor Christians will have nowhere else to go. Please pray for the Christians of Islamabad. Pray that the Supreme Court will rule justly and wisely and that Muslims will not respond to any incitement to take matters into their own hands.

* UGANDA: YET MORE MARTYRS IN EASTERN PROVINCE
'We need prayers,' a source tells Morning Star News (MSN), 'as the Muslims are out to destroy people who converted to Christ in this area, especially those of us who have sacrificed to share the love of Christ to our fellow Muslims.' Patrick Ojangole (43), a Christian convert from Islam, cared not only for his own five children, but for ten convert children rejected and abandoned by their Muslim families. On the night of Wednesday 2 December Ojangole and a companion went to the aid of two burka-clad women only to find it was a trap. The women drew swords and handed them to the Muslim attackers who killed Ojangole. His companion who escaped said one of the attackers was berating Ojangole for his refusal to stop his Christian activities. On Tuesday 8 December a mob of more than 20 Muslims similarly entrapped, ambushed and murdered Ismail Kuloba (43), a policeman who had left Islam for Christianity and was leading other Muslims to Christ. On 9 December a group of Muslims kidnapped three children aged five, seven and ten  from the home of Madengho Badir (42), another Christian convert from Islam. Unable to trace his children, Badir is distraught. 'I know the Muslims are doing this to frustrate my hope in Christ and to make me return to Islam ... my only hope is in Jesus.'

* UNITED KINGDOM (UK): GOVERNMENT PROPOSES REGULATING RELIGION
Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills) is a non-ministerial government department responsible for inspecting schools and regulating services to ensure they conform to 'British values' (by which is meant the Equality Act, which equates British values with moral and cultural relativism). Ofsted inspections have threatened a number of Jewish and Christian schools which, despite their academic excellence, have been deemed to be failing to promote 'British values'. Now the UK government has proposed that Ofsted be given powers to investigate non-school settings, i.e. anywhere children are taught or trained, including church camps, Sunday schools and youth programs. All out-of-school educational settings would have to register with the authorities and submit to routine inspections. 'Undesirable teaching' that 'undermines or is incompatible with fundamental British values' would be banned and those guilty of undermining 'British values' would be sanctioned. As the Christian Institute notes, this would turn Ofsted into a 'state regulator of religion'.

Though designed to rein in the promotion of 'extremism' in fundamentalist Islamic schools and youth programs (which is a serious problem), rabid secularists with their own agendas are exploiting the inspection regime to attack Christianity. This is exactly what we observe in Central Asian states like Uzbekistan, where laws designed to rein in militant and revolutionary Islam are exploited to suppress evangelical Christianity. The UK Department of Education has launched a consultation (which closes on 11 January) and the Christian Institute is spearheading the response (click here for details). Pray for revival in the UK, and that religious freedom will be preserved.

* UK: NORTHERN IRELAND

Rev. James and Margaret McConnell

Update to RLPB 320 (28 July). The trial of Pastor James McConnell (78) began on Monday 14 December and is expected to last three days. McConnell was charged with improper use of a public electronic communications network and causing a grossly offensive message to be sent by means of a public electronic communications network, after a sermon in which he criticised Islam was broadcast on the internet. McConnell had been responding to the death sentence for apostasy handed down in Khartoum to Christian convert Meriam Ibrahim. The case revolves around McConnell's words: 'I don't trust them [Muslims],' which the judge asserts is akin to vilifying all Muslims as liars, something McConnell strongly rejects. McConnell's accuser, Dr Raied Al-Wazzan of the Belfast Islamic Centre, was not called on to give evidence, for he has since discredited himself by commending Islamic State's rule in Mosul.

* VIETNAM: CAMPAIGN OF INTIMIDATION AGAINST CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE

Nguyen Van Dai, 6 Dec 2015
Radio Free Asia

On Sunday 6 December internationally acclaimed Christian advocate Nguyen Van Dai was attacked while returning to Hanoi after running a human rights information session in Nghe An Province.  Some ten masked assailants -- security personnel on motorbikes -- ambushed Dai's taxi. Dai, his three colleagues and the driver were dragged out of the car and beaten with clubs. Though his colleagues managed to escape and make their way back to Hanoi, Dai (the main target) was beaten severely, robbed and left on a bench. A passerby lent Dai his phone so he could call for help. Friends collected him and provided first aid. After being alerted that police were lying in wait to ambush Dai yet again, his friends drove him back to Hanoi by an alternative route.  In May 2014 Dai was beaten by plain-clothed security personnel while he was meeting with colleagues and students. A courageous religious liberty advocate and devout Protestant Christian, Nguyen Van Dai has already spent five years in prison for 'propagandising against the state of Vietnam'.

* YEMEN: CHURCH GRAVELY IMPERILLED

Church of the Immaculate Conception,
Aden, in better days.
 Independent Catholic News

Two Christian converts from Islam have been murdered in Taiz, south-west Yemen, both of whom had reportedly been professing Christ openly. One of the Christians was assassinated, shot multiple times by an AQAP (al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) operative. Details surrounding the killing of the other Christian, who was shot to death in his home, are as yet unconfirmed. The martyrs' names have not been released. Yemen has grown increasingly lawless due to war and is essentially a failed state. The killings, which occurred in September and October, have shaken the convert community in Yemen, contributing to a growing sense of vulnerability and insecurity. In September masked assailants believed to be linked to AQAP torched St Joseph's Catholic Church (built 1855) in Aden. On Wednesday 9 December militants detonated explosives in the Church of the Immaculate Conception (built 1960s) in the Al-Ma'ala area of Aden. The church and adjoining priests' residence were totally destroyed. Christians in Yemen are mostly foreign aid workers, African refugees (many Eritreans) and converts from Islam. Pray for this gravely imperilled Church.

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Elizabeth Kendal is the author of
Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today
(Deror Books, Dec 2012).

Her second book, ‘After Saturday Comes Sunday’: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East, will be published by Wipf and Stock (Eugene, OR, USA) in early 2016.

RLPB 151. Middle East: Islamic blocs to trample minorities

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 151 | Wed 21 Mar 2012

MIDDLE EAST: ISLAMIC POWER BLOCS TO TRAMPLE MINORITIES
By Elizabeth Kendal

The Middle East is undergoing a massive upheaval wherein Islamist powers are struggling for regional and Islamic supremacy. According to terrorism analyst Yossef Bodansky, the 'buffer' that prevents the Islamic blocs from 'fratricidal violence' is the 'Fertile Crescent of Minorities' (Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy magazine (2/2012)). Thus it is in the interests of these blocs as they struggle in their quest for supremacy over the others that the 'Fertile Crescent of Minorities' be crushed. Unfortunately the West is so committed to majority rule that it cannot see that, by being complicit in the crushing of the region's minorities, it is actually setting the stage for a regional war of cataclysmic proportions.

* THE SUNNI ARAB AXIS (led by Saudi Arabia, backed by the West)

A Kuwaiti Member of Parliament, Osama Al-Munawer, has announced plans to submit a draft law that would ban the building of new churches while permitting existing churches to remain. On Monday 12 March a Kuwaiti delegate questioned Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, on the matter. The Grand Mufti responded by citing Muhammad's command: 'Two deens [religions] shall not co-exist in the Arabian Peninsula.' (Al-Muwatta Hadith - 45.18. Note that 45.17 uses the broader phrase 'in the land of the Arabs'.) Therefore, said the Sheikh, it is actually 'necessary to destroy all the churches of the region'. The Grand Mufti is Saudi Arabia's highest official of religious law. He is also the head of the Supreme Council of Ulema (Islamic scholars) and of the Standing Committee for Scientific Research and Issuing of Fatwas. Consequently his decree could unleash a tsunami of persecution. Beyond the Arabian Peninsula, Christians in the Arab lands of Egypt and Lebanon have expressed alarm and anxiety over the decree.

On Sunday 18 March militants in Yemen's southern city of Taiz shot and killed an American English-language teacher. Al Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) claimed responsibility for the targeted assassination, describing the victim, Joel Shrun (29), as 'one of the biggest American proselytisers'. Shrun had lived in Taiz with his wife and two children since 2010. Church leader Ulf Edström told reporters that threats against the school had increased of late. 'Al-Qaeda is searching for Westerners,' he said. Yemen is home to some 41,000 Christians, more than half of whom are expatriate workers. Local believers, generally converts from Islam, are mostly 'underground'.

* IRANIAN AXIS

In Iran, security officials in Isfahan have arrested 12 Christian converts over the past month as part of a wider crackdown on Christian symbols and conversions. As repression and persecution escalate, some local church leaders allied to the regime are publicly distancing themselves from their suffering brothers and sisters. (This is a common problem in highly dangerous non-free states.) See Mohabat News

In Syria (where the struggle is currently centred) recent bombings have hit Christian districts. On Saturday 17 March simultaneous suicide bombings in Damascus targeting government facilities killed 27 and wounded more than 100. One car bomb was detonated as the bomber drove through the Christian neighbourhood of al-Qassa. The 'martyrdom' group al-Nusra Front to Protect the Levant (see RLPB 148) claimed responsibility. Then on Sunday 18 March a bomb was detonated near a Latin church and two primary schools in Aleppo's Sulaymaniyeh neighbourhood, a district heavily populated with Christians. A security guard and a Syrian-Armenian woman were killed and thirty people were injured.

In Iraq (which was formerly ruled by Sunni Arabs but is now ruled by Arab Shi'ites under Iranian hegemony) another church has been attacked. Baghdad's Syrian Orthodox Church of St Matthew was one of some 20 sites targeted in a nation-wide simultaneous bombing campaign on 20 March, the ninth anniversary of the US invasion. (At the time of writing, no group had claimed responsibility.)

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL --

* preserve a remnant of his people in their homeland; may he be their refuge, provider and deliverer, bringing guidance, healing, comfort and strength, along with justice and recompense.

'. . . in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. [God] will put to shame him who tramples on me.' (Psalm 57:1b,2,3b ESV)

* facilitate the escape of those who are seeking and needing an escape route; may asylum be granted without delay.

* draw his people ever closer into communion with him, increasing their faith so they will know they are never alone, but have as their ally the sovereign creator of the universe, for whom 'nothing will be impossible' (Luke 1:37).

SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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ISLAMIC POWER BLOCS IN MIDDLE EAST TO TRAMPLE MINORITIES

The Middle East's minority Christians are being trampled as the region's Islamic blocs compete for regional hegemony and supremacy. On Monday 12 March the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia decreed that, in line with the teaching of Muhammad, all the region's churches should be destroyed. Days later, an American Christian English-language teacher was gunned down in Yemen. Repression and persecution are escalating in Iran with 12 believers arrested in Isfahan in the past month. In contested Syria, recent bombings in Damascus and Aleppo struck predominantly Christian districts. In Iraq, Baghdad's Syrian Orthodox Church of St Matthew was one of some 20 sites attacked on 20 March as bombs were detonated simultaneously across the nation. Please pray for the Church in the Middle East.